FTW01LA121 · Eurocopter AS-350-B2
Eurocopter AS-350-B2 · Accident: loss of control in flight on approach
From Sugar Land Regional Airport (SGR) to KHOU-TV Heliport (66TS)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW01LA121
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Eurocopter AS-350-B2
- Aircraft type
- Eurocopter AS-350
- Category
- Helicopter
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N311TV
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Sugar Land Regional Airport (SGR), Houston, TXTo KHOU-TV Heliport (66TS), Houston, TX
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Hydraulic system, inadvertent deactivation
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The helicopter was on final approach, approximately 15 feet above the roof top helipad, when the helicopter's controls "became very stiff." The pilot observed the "HYD" light on the caution panel illuminated; however, the audible hydraulic warning horn did not activate. Subsequently, the helicopter impacted the helipad with the right skid, and rolled onto its right side. Examination of the helicopter's cockpit revealed that the hydraulic cut-off switch, which is located on the collective control, was found in the cut-off position and its red plastic guard was broken (when the switch is in the cut-off position the hydraulic warning horn will not sound). The cockpit was examined for shattered pieces of the guard; however, none were found. The hydraulic system was examined and no leaks were noted. A functional test of the hydraulic pump and regulator/manifold revealed no anomalies with either unit.
Probable cause
the failure of the pilot to maintain control of the helicopter following an inadvertent deactivation of the hydraulic system, during final approach. A contributory factor was the unguarded hydraulic cut-off switch.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW01LA121
- Event ID
- 20010522X00986
- Case number
- FTW01LA121
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 28b280b6269abd445cd29dd8464b171c9f0ee571ac89620515daec38da7e216e; retrieved 2026-09-21T19:57:01.296Z.